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Amazon Key


Jeepers

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So, need to be a Prime Member, own a Smart Phone and spend $250.00 for a special installation kit so a stranger can walk into my house while I'm not home? Well, sign me up!   :sheeple:

 

Amazon wants to drop packages off — inside your home with Amazon Key

October 25, 2017

Amazon is looking to take its package delivery service one step further — inside your home.

 

Instead of dropping off on the porch, a new service announced Wednesday would allow Amazon to unlock your door and gain access to your home — whether you’re there or not — to leave the packages inside.

 

Amazon Key is rolling out next month in Chicago and 36 other cities. It requires an Amazon Prime membership, a $250 installation kit and a degree of trust in granting delivery drivers access to your home. 

 

The system, which includes a keyless-entry door lock, a video camera and real-time notification to watch the event as it happens, may deliver peace of mind to some customers by thwarting the growing problem of porch pirating — thieves that swipe packages before they get to the rightful recipient.

 

“Amazon Key gives customers peace of mind knowing their orders have been safely delivered to their homes and are waiting for them when they walk through their doors,” Peter Larsen, vice president of delivery technology for Amazon, said in a news release.

 

Amazon Key will be available Nov. 8, with in-home delivery service at no additional cost. Prime members can preorder the installation kit now.

 

The service arrives just in time for the holiday season, when porch piracy is at its peak. The 2017 Package Theft Report, a national survey conducted by Aurora-based Schorr Packaging, found that nearly a third of respondents had personally experienced package delivery theft.

 

Fear of theft affects online spending, according to the survey, with 41 percent of respondents saying they don’t buy items such as electronics online because they’re afraid the packages will get stolen.

 

In July, Amazon launched The Hub, a self-service locker system for receiving packages at apartments and other multitenant buildings.

 

The in-home delivery kit includes an Amazon Cloud Cam and one of several compatible smart locks by manufacturers Yale and Kwikset. Customers can install the kits themselves or take advantage of free professional installation.

 

When customers choose in-home delivery, they will get a notification with a four-hour delivery window and then an “arriving now” message to allow for a live video feed of the event. Drivers will knock before unlocking the door electronically with a handheld scanner.

 

The system is not compatible with alarm systems, which must be turned off prior to delivery, or free-roaming house dogs, Amazon said on its website.

 

“We do not recommend using in-home delivery if your pet can access the front door on delivery day,” the company said.

 

Beyond deliveries, homeowners can use the system to allow keyless access for family and friends. Down the road, Amazon Key plans to offer integration with more than 1,200 service providers, letting everyone from Merry Maids house cleaners to the dog walkers at Rover.com into your home.

 

Amazon isn’t the first retailer to offer in-home delivery service. Last month, Walmart announced it was a testing a similar smart-home technology program in Silicon Valley that would not only let delivery drivers in the front door but also allow them to put away groceries in the fridge, if requested.

 

While in-home delivery may solve the problem of porch pirates, it nonetheless allows a stranger to enter your home while you are away, a trade-off that some consumers may not be willing to make.

 

In a bid to reassure the wary, Amazon said its drivers are “thoroughly vetted, with comprehensive background checks and motor vehicle record reviews.”

 

If that’s not enough, the in-home delivery service also is backed by the Amazon Key Happiness Guarantee, essentially a 30-day window to file a claim if your property is damaged in the process.

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-amazon-key-deliver-inside-home-20171025-story.html

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I thought about what will happen when those scanners get stolen (or black marketed) and you have the system already installed on your door. But you don't realize your home has been compromised until it's been cleaned out...or worse.  :ph34r:

 

They say it's targeted to apartment/condo people but most landlords would not allow you to change their type of entry systems. Or what about people who live in an apartment building where they share a front entry door that is supposed to stay locked? Nope, they are targeting single family homes. 

 

I understand that you have to actually push the button to unlock your door when you want to unlock it but there is already that technology out there using your cell phone. I saw that on TV. So Amazon is just capitalizing on that market $$$$$.  And I don't believe for one second that they haven't installed a "Back Door" on their system to be able to open a door in their system anytime they want, just like any other computer.

 

I would not want a person from Wal-Mart walking through my home when I'm not there to stock my refrigerator.  I'm not quite that lazy yet.

 

 

(Scenario)  I can just see it now. All homes in the future must be fitted with special locks so police, fire and all emergency responders can enter your home anytime with a hand held scanner...for your own good. If you don't comply a lien will be placed on your property and taxes and fines will occur daily.  Sigh.

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Tell me why we can't have a "milk box" with a lock that Amazon can open.  Outside and secured to something so whole thing can't be opened.  Can't you just see a whole line of "delivery boxes" lined up by each home....US Postal Service, Amazon, UPS, FedEx, .....'Other' -- for which you can have a changable combination to give to any stray vendor who might not deliver thru any of the above.... 

 

Oversized packages would have to be scheduled....

 

Inside my house......right.  Like a certain 120# entity is gonna let THAT happen!  :rolleyes:

 

MtRider  .....remember the milk, cream, cottage cheese delivered to the metal cool box outside your home?  No?  You're not old enough then.  :)

Edited by Mt_Rider
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  • 2 weeks later...

Uhmmm no not happening. This is why I have packages delivered to work. Or track them online and since I am good friends with the UPS driver here make arrangements to meet him at my house. No one and I do mean no one unless I pushed out out of my whowho gets a key to my house.

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We heard about this a few weeks ago and wondered how they were going to get into everyone's houses! Nope, not a chance. Besides, I'm home most of the time, and when I'm not, the UPS and FedEx guys just set the packages on the porch. They're perfectly safe... something about a big beautiful German Shepherd in the yard seems to make people nervous... :24: Fortunately the delivery guys know him and he loves them because they bring him cookies. 

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Packages get stolen from front porches here all the time. Even in broad daylight! But a casual poll of my community still was a  great big fat NO WAY IN H3LL!!! These same people said the same thing ya'll said......a locked BOX on the front porch, or deliver to a business where you have a PO Box, etc.

 

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  • 2 months later...

Things get keep getting more and more creepy...to me.

 

I placed an order to Amazon last week. There were about 6 small items in the order. They were sent from 2-3 different vendors. I got tracking notices from each one. For some reason I clicked on one of the trackers and it said it had been delivered. So far so good. BUT, there was a picture of my front door with the package in front of it in, the tracking email. At first I thought, "Well, that's nice". Then I felt, I don't know...creepy. I don't think I like pictures of my front door (very close up and personal) somewhere out there on the internet.

 

I know why they do it. To CYA to show it was delivered. Okay, the delivery person COULD deliver it and take the picture and then take the package back. That picture proves nothing to me. I usually don't even check the tracking emails because the orders arrive fast.

 

I don't know if this is an Amazon thing or the delivery company's program but, if this is an issue with you, then check your tracking email after you know your package is delivered and opt out of the program. It arrived on Sunday and I don't know who delivered it. UPS, Fed-Ex, US Postal Service, Private. I don't know.

 

Am I getting paranoid? Overly sensitive? I don't know. I did opt out of that service though.

 

More and more things are "Opt Out"  instead of  "Opt In"  these days. In other words you are already opted in before (or if) you even know you are 'in' before you know to opt 'out'.  Yeah, I know. You'll probably need to read that sentence a couple of times to understand it. I did and I wrote it. :blush:   One of those, 'It sounds better in my head things...but too important not to attempt typing it things'

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:yar:  

 

Have massive headache and my comprehension is slow....  :lol:  so yeah, some of that sounded a bit circular.  But I know what you mean.

 

Isn't that life right now.  More and More and More to comprehend....to anticipate....to prevent or include....  CHOICES when all-of-the-above seem like bad choices?  Do we even know when we have a choice? 

 

MtRider  :twister3:    .....my choice is for the piercing pain and spinning in my head to stop.....OW.  Waiting it out...

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